Distant Lands (Spinel x Reader)

Chapter 18

You close your bedroom door behind you, hearing an audible soft click. You lean your back against the door momentarily, feeling your shoulder blades pressing against the wood. You take in a breath slowly, exhaling it out of your nose. You missed the smell of home. Moving your hand over the bumpy texture of the wall, you palm the light switch for your nearest lamp.

Your room is the same as you left it.

It feels weird, honestly. Like there should be dust on the edges of your bookshelf, but there isn't. Like somehow you had stopped time by being on that shithole, even if you know that's not the case. You move over to your bed and sit down on it, feeling so, so very tired. You let your body move on autopilot, hands stretching over fabric - you fling your bra off and it hits the wall with a satisfactory smack. You know you changed your clothes earlier after your shower, but you get up again to grab something a little more comfortable than a shirt and jeans.

You pick out a loose oversized long-sleeved shirt and some soft shorts. Putting them on, you never realized how much you missed something as simple as a change of clothing.

You sit back down on your bed, flopping on it arms wide on your covers. It.. feels like heaven.

You lay there for a good twenty minutes or so, mind wandering. Turning your head to the side, you look over to your wall with all the posters Steven helped you put up, and the corkboard with all of the Funland photo strips you have of yourself and the gems. You missed spending time with Steven and them a lot more than you had thought, honestly.

Your gaze roams over a few more things before it eventually falls onto your outstretched hand, and you blink a few times. You forgot you now had pink skin. You roll over to your side, touching your one hand with the other - your skin doesn't feel any different. You feel the same as before.

You let out a long sigh, hearing it clearly as the rest of the room is dead quiet. Your ears ring a little, here in the quiet, but you try to tune it out with the louder thoughts in your head.

You died, and it's a weird thought. You really only remember being tired, much like how you're tired now - only now, you just feel it in your face instead of your whole body. You remember the weird feeling of losing a lot of blood very quickly. The feeling of adrenaline rushing through you as you couldn't believe what had just transpired. You barely even felt being pierced, actually.. You don't.. honestly want to put too much thought into it anymore, really. It doesn't matter. You're here now, and you're alive, and so is Spinel.

Speaking of.

You're kind of a moron.

You should probably go out there to talk to her. Like, there's.. so much to talk about, and it's a little overwhelming. You refuse to put too much thought into thinking about her right now though - you'd be lying here forever if you did. You also don't want to disturb Steven's sleep, but the thought of having Spinel in your room right now is kind of too much for you, truthfully. You don't want the gems to think anything weird...

Oh my god, you're so fucking stupid. Just go out there and talk to her, dipshit.

You get up off your bed, not letting yourself even try to convince your brain to roll over and fall asleep, as much as your body wants to. You get over to your door, hand on the doorknob - and open it again quietly. Your bare feet step outside your bedroom, closing the door behind you with another click. You very slowly creep back down the hallway over to the living room, a little nervousness seeping into your steps. It's a bit drafty out here, and you regret not putting on pajama pants a little.

Looking past the corner warily, you see Spinel still sitting on the couch. You don't think she moved, actually, as she's staring out at the ocean again. As soon as she hears your footsteps near her, she turns her head over to you, surprised. Her eyes widen a little more when she realizes it's you.